Opinionated? Damn right...

Impartiality is an artifice. We all have opinions and whilst many broadcasters and newspapers pretend to be impartial, we know that they're not, however much they protest otherwise. Was the BBC - that stalwart of impartiality surely - on the fence about Brexit? Of course not!

From 2003-2008 I was the early morning voice of 'Mandate' on Manx Radio and tried hard keep my own opinions out of the programme (for the most part I succeeded!). But from 2008-2019 I was encouraged to have a voice of my own and take an active role in the phone-in debate of the day. That continued when I took over The Late Show in 2019.

The trouble is, I've always considered myself a centrist politically and a moderate in most things ('everything in moderation' as my mum used to say), but people like me are being browbeaten by noisy and militant extremists who seem to exist mostly to destroy a society that has been evolving for hundreds of years. Social media seems full of an army of people that takes offence at having their beliefs challenged - to the point where you even have to use their chosen words or risk further outrage.

Let me address the elephant in the room. I still think it was perfectly reasonable and responsible to question the value of people in the Isle of Man marching to protest about police violence thousands of miles away in America. But that honest question led to outrage and demands for my radio career to be ended. Why? The BLM movement has since been revealed to be a neo-Marxist organisation pledged to defund the police and end the nuclear family, whilst making the founders rich from donations.

So to be clear, I'm not an '-ist' and I'm not a '-phobe', although over the years I've been accused of pretty much every modern sin. A long standing test in law was 'what would appear to be reasonable to a man on the Clapham Omnibus' and it's always struck a chord with me. So I don't think it's unreasonable to ask questions or address concerns - I'm an open book and will answer any relevant query about my position on an issue. But I expect others to do the same, especially if they're trying to impose a new way of doing things.

For example I have concerns about the transgender movement. As the law stands now, a teacher can't give a pupil an aspirin without parental consent, but that same child can go to a specialist and be started on puberty blockers that could ruin their later lives. Many of them allegedly come to regret their decisions. Girls seem especially suggestible and susceptible to peer pressure and the number who present for gender reassignment has skyrocketed in recent years. Shouldn't we be talking about that, reasonably and rationally? I saw a couple of interviews with experts who are quite clear that many boys who seek to become girls through strong drugs and surgery would be better served by simply being allowed to come out as gay. I'm not medically trained so can't provide a definitive answer to any of these issues, but I think they're things we should be able to discuss openly and frankly, without being labelled homophobic or transphobic. I don't care if my neighbour Fred decides he wants to be known as Freda tomorrow. I want everyone to take responsibility for their own happiness. But surely it's not reasonable to put on a frock, keep the beard and tell me I shouldn't question that.

Another thing I have concerns about: better Mental Health provision is at the top of the list of campaign promises for many candidates. Sure, we can fill the Island with psychologists and therapists - but wouldn't we be better served by finding out WHY so many young people are being diagnosed with mental health problems? Wouldn't they be better served by being taught resilience and how to cope with problems rather than being dosed with strong drugs? I posted on Facebook some time ago that all these young people who were allegedly suffering from mental health problems because of C-19 lockdowns ought to be grateful they weren't born a century ago, when they would probably have been in a cold, wet, muddy trench in Flanders covered in lice and surrounded by r*ts, about to face a line of machine guns. One of my girls (all now wonderful adults) told me in no uncertain terms that you can't equate modern problems to trench warfare. I'm not convinced, but again I'm not an expert and would welcome the opportunity to at least talk reasonably, repectfully and responsibly about thes issues, rather than write a public cheque for dozens more 'experts'.